Sunday, March 31, 2013

Thanks to some great work by Takashi Beppu, Pierre and Gerwin Sturm in the comments sections of this blog we now know what all the letters spell in Google's Treasure Hunt.

There are nine separate treasure trails that you can follow on Google Maps' new Treasure Map. If you get to the end of each trail you will find a red symbol in the shape of a letter. If you haven't got time to follow all the trails then check out this Spoiler Map.

The map is an animated slideshow that reveals each of the letters in turn. All you have to do is sit back and try and spell out the two words that are revealed.

If you interested in how Google created this map then check out this video, starring Google Maps Mania's own original blogger, one Mike (the peg-leg) Pegg,

The Google Maps team has released a special edition version of the April Fool's Day Treasure Map.

Weigh Anchor, Me Hearties uses the treasure map tiles but also includes animated pirate ships. Google say that their head of pirate security, has placed GPS trackers on all known pirate ships, which has enabled them to create this map showing the pirates' locations in real time.

If you want to create your own Pirate Map just use the Google Maps API and add "treasureMode: 'aye'" to your map options. You can look at the code in the map above if you need more help.

This year Google's April Fool's Day layer on Google Maps is an attractive Treasure Map.

The map includes a number of picture clues that you can follow to reach the hidden treasure on the maps. Each of the picture clues includes a number which is actually a latitude and longitude that you can follow to the next clue.

It seems that there are at least 8 different treasure trails that you can follow on the map. Each of the final treasures are shown with a red symbol (so far Google Maps Mania readers have found a red compass, a red ring, a red sword, a red axe, a red rope, a red coin, red bones and a red gun) Most (if not all the symbols also seem to be in the shape of different letters. Looking at the letters revealed so far it looks to me like they will end up spelling 'April Fool'. Co-ordinates to the final treasure symbols are given at the end of this post.

The first picture clue that I have found is off the coast of Southend-on-Sea, in the UK. I've followed the clues until I arrived at what I think is where the treasure is buried. If you can't be bothered to type in all the clues yourself you can follow along on this Treasure - Spoiler Map. This map follows the path to the red sword.

I don't know if this is related to any of the treasure hunts on the map but I have also found a treasure chest in Puerto Rico (switch to treasure map view to see the chest). Also (and I'm sure this unrelated to any treasure hunt) I've found a little Gangnam Style in Seoul.

In order to help the ailing global economy Google Maps has today unveiled a new map layer, 'Treasure Maps'.

The new Treasure Maps layer should help all fortune seekers find any nearby hidden booty. To view the Treasure Maps layer just select the button on the top right of Google Maps. If you need additional help in finding any hidden treasure, whilst in Treasure Maps, open Street View which now has a very handy black and white telescope view.

There are actually a number of hidden clues on the map. Look for icons that have numbers beside them - the numbers are map co-ordinates that you can follow to new locations. Check out the comments below for help on where to find the treasure or check out this Treasure Maps - Spoilers post.

If you do manage to find the two passwords hidden on the map then you should be able to access two zipped files that Google have now posted online. Here's what Google says about the files:

"Have you found Captain Kidd's long-lost treasure yet? We found some
locked treasures on the map, but Captain Kidd locked these with a secret
code:"

There are a lot of location tracking apps that use Google Maps to show your real-time position.
Google employee Tristan Smith has decided however to forgo the map and
instead he gives a first person view of his current location using
Google Maps Street View.

A Man Like Me in a Place Like This
uses Tristan's location data from Google Latitude to show in real-time
his location using Street View. If you sit and stare at the app you can
watch as the Street View images update in real-time to show
his current location.

Geostellar
can help you calculate how well solar panels would work on your house.
All you have to do is type in your address and you instantly get a free
appraisal of the solar potential of your rooftop,

After you enter an address into Geostellar your house is shown on Google
Maps satellite view with an infra-red image overlay showing the
potential sunlight available on your house's roof. Alongside the Google
Map users are given a detailed breakdown about the installation costs of
solar panels and an estimate of the electricity savings that could be
made.

Notes.is
is a Google Maps based site that allows anyone to pin a note to a
Google Map. Using the app you can place a pinned note on your favourite
restaurant, gallery or any other location that you wish to share with
the world.

The map includes a really useful tutorial that guides you through the
process of how to add a note to the map. It also includes a really useful hashtag system that allows users to add a hashtag to a note. The hashtags are a great
feature when browsing notes added by other users. When you zoom in on a
location the most popular hashtags in your current view are displayed
above the map. Users can then click on any of the hashtags to highlight
all the notes including that hashtag.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Forecast is a beautiful looking responsive weather application that works perfectly both on a desktop or in a mobile browser.

Set your location on Forecast and every time you open the app you can get an instant weather forecast for today, the next 24 hours and the week ahead. The map includes a 24 hour radar animation and if you click on any of the days (shown beneath the map) you can view a detailed forecast for that day.

Probably the most shared map of the last week was the Stamen <3 Here map. The map is a beautiful visualisation of Nokia's awesome 3d map views.

The map is a little memory intensive and can be very slow on older computers but does present some beautiful city views. Unfortunately at the moment you can only explore, New York, London, Berlin and San Francisco on the map.

This Place is a nice UK census data exploration tool that uses ONS Census shapefiles to provide stand-out maps of UK census tracts.

Using the tool it is possible to search for an area by postcode or by latitude and longitude and view detailed information about the neighbourhood from the UK census. What stands out to the map geek however is how the static maps are presented on the screen, with the chosen census tract punched out on a masked map.

Erin Brockovich, most famous for her legal victory against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the subsequent movie about the trial, has released a Google Map of communities' environmental and health concerns.

The People’s Reporting Registry Map allows individuals around the world to report local environmental issues that they think are harmful to their communities or affecting the health of local people.

The map itself was created using the ZeeMaps map creation platform. ZeeMaps provides software-as-a-service that allows anyone to create and publish interactive maps, do geo-analysis of location data or create mapped visualisations for presentations and printing.

ZeeMaps can be created from data from CSV or Excel files as well as Google Spreadsheets. Users can even set
up their maps to be automatically updated as the Google Spreadsheets change.

ZeeMaps includes extensive admin controls that allow map administrators to moderate data entry. These include three levels of access control per map to allow the secure crowd-sourcing of data.

Maps created with ZeeMaps also have a comprehensive geo-search capability that can be combined with map data. ZeeMaps
searches for information on the map, based on user-defined fields combined with location. For example, if
a map contains customer data with fields such as customer-level (for Premium, Gold, Silver, etc.) then
a user can perform a query for all customers in California that have a Gold level.

The Best of British Unsigned is a weekly radio show that showcases unsigned British bands and musicians. The weekly show is broadcast worldwide on over 80 FM radio stations.

The Best of British Unsigned Music Map displays all of the artists that have been featured on the Best of British Unsigned radio show. The map can also be used to find all the global radio stations that broadcast the show. If you select an artist's or a radio station's marker on the map you can view more details in the map sidebar, including website and Twitter links.

AutNo is an apartment search application that can help you find somewhere to live that doesn't involve a lengthy commute to your workplace.

The application uses Google Maps to display available apartments. Once you enter the location of your workplace on the map you can then quickly view the commuting options and commuting times for each of the displayed apartments.

If you select an apartment on the map a route from the apartment to your workplace is instantly displayed on the map. An information window displays the length and likely time that it would take to commute to work from the selected apartment. You can select either walking, public transit or driving as your preferred method of commuting and you instantly get a detailed breakdown of the best available commuting route and the time it will take you to get to work.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Google has released more haunting Street View imagery of the areas affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Google were asked by the mayor of Namie-machi to record Street View imagery of his town which sits in the Fukushima 12-mile evacuation zone. He wanted the evacuated residents of the town to be able to take a virtual tour of the town that they can no longer visit in person.

At Kamaishi Municipal Toni Elementary School it is hard not to imagine students once studying radiation half-life in the physics lab of this abandoned school.

In the town of Namie-machi itself, as you explore the abandoned town, you can observe the destruction caused by the earthquake and get a first hand view of how nature is reclaiming the town's sidewalks and empty parking lots.

Park Compass is a Google Maps guide to Vancouver's many parks and the facilities that they offer.

The map shows the location of all Vanvouver's parks and allows users to search for nearby parks by location or by their facilities. If you select a park's marker on the map you can view the park's address and all the facilities the park offers.

If a user requires a specific facility, for example a tennis court, jogging trails or playgrounds then they can filter the map to show only those parks that offer the facility.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Google has today launched a new mapping platform Google Maps Engine Lite, that provides an easy map creation tool for those who haven't got the coding skills to use the Google Maps API.

Google Maps Engine Lite is free to use for non-business purposes. Using the tool it is very easy to create and share a map containing up to three different data sets. Users can add locations to the map by simply dropping markers on a map (or by tracing a route). Alternatively it is possible to import data from a CSV or XLSX file.

Another way to create a map with Google Maps Engine Lite is to simply import data from a My Map. For example I created a map of the locations in the Two Gallants in Google Maps Engine Lite in a matter of seconds using one of my My Maps.

To create the map all I had to do was choose the My Map from a list of maps I have created in Google Maps. Once the data has been imported it is then possible to share a link to the map or embed it in a website (as I have done above).

Google Earth Engine Lite is very easy to use. However if you run into problems trying to create a map you might find this Google Earth Outlook tutorial helpful.

Notes.is is a Google Maps based site that allows anyone to pin a note to a Google Map. Using the app you can place a pinned note on your favourite restaurant, gallery or any other location that you wish to share with the world.

The map includes a really useful tutorial that guides you through the process of how to add a note to the map. I recommend following the tutorial as it also guides you through some of the app's best features.

For example you can add a hashtag to a note. The hashtags are a great feature when browsing notes added by other users. When you zoom in on a location the most popular hashtags in your current view are displayed above the map. Users can then click on any of the hashtags to highlight all the notes including that hashtag.

When you pin a note to the map you can share your submission with friends via Facebook or Twitter simply by selecting the 'share' option.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

The Bolsa Floresta is Brazil’s internationally recognised programme for the preservation of traditional communities and environment in the Amazon rainforest. To highlight the projects being carried out in the region the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) has used Google Maps to create the Bolsa Floresta Platform.

The platform uses Google Map and the Google Earth browser plug-in to present information about the investments made by FAS in forest economy, social development and community organisation. Alongside these data layers the platform includes additional map layers about land use management, land use changes, vegetation, hydrography, soils, climate and a number of media layers with street view imagery, videos, photos and 3D buildings.

There are a lot of apps that can track your location on Google Maps. Google employee Tristan Smith has decided however to forgo the map and instead he gives a first person view of his current location using Google Maps Street View.

A Man Like Me in a Place Like This uses Tristan's location data from Google Latitude to show in real-time his location using Street View. If you sit and stare at the app you can watch in real-time as the Street View images update in real-time to show his current location.

If the images aren't updating then you have the fun of panning around in Street View and trying to guess why Tristan has stopped moving. Is he getting his haircut in that salon or could he be grabbing lunch in that cafe on the corner?

MapMyWay is a popular guide to events and locations in Cape Town, South Africa. The site uses the Google Maps API to help both locals and visitors explore the city's many attractions.

Using the map it is possible to search for locations and upcoming events either by searching by a specific name or by category. The menu at the top of the map allows users to search by a number of different criteria, including shopping, museums, concerts, theatre and much more.

When the user searches by a specific category the suggested venues are displayed on the map and details for each venue are are also listed beneath the map. The map includes a handy full-screen option that expands the map to take over the whole page. To find out more about a specific location the user can click on a map marker and select the 'read more' option.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Geostellar can help you calculate how well solar panels would work on your house. All you have to do is type in your address and you instantly get a free appraisal of the solar potential of your rooftop,

After you enter an address into Geostellar your house is shown on Google Maps satellite view with an infra-red image overlay showing the potential sunlight available on your house's roof. Alongside the Google Map users are given a detailed breakdown about the installation costs of solar panels and an estimate of the electricity savings that could be made.

Also See

In My Backyard - see how much electricity can be produced by installing
solar panels

The great map debate is no longer about whether Google or Apple have the best mapping platform but concerns whether Hugo Chavez was killed by the CIA. At least that is one of the current debates taking place on Quibl.

Quibl is an open platform that allows anyone to set up a debate based on a location on Google Maps. Users can browse the map for location based debates, they can then read through the arguments for and against, add their own comments and vote for the argument they agree with.

Every tech scene in every city in the world now seems to have its own tech map. However Tech Britain is I think the first attempt I've seen to map a whole county's new technology industry.

In order to prove that the UK's technology industry extends beyond the hipster confines of London's East End, Tech Britain has been touring the country mapping the UK's start-ups, incubators and investors. The result is this Tech Britain map and a series of video interviews with some of the start-ups that Tech Britain met on journey around the country.

Tech City Map is a visually striking Google Map of the technology companies and startups in east London.

The
map shows the locations of London's silicon roundabout area. The 'show
networks' option on the map allows users to visualise the connections
between the over 1,300 companies. If you click on an individual map marker
there is also an option to view the latest Tweets from the selected
tech company.

The Cambridge Cluster (also known as Silicon Fen) is the name given to
an area in and around Cambridge, England where a large number of
high-tech businesses are located.

The Cambridge Cluster Map
is a Google Map showing the locations of the companies that contribute
to Cambridge's high-tech sector. The size of the map marker used for
each company represents the number of employees in the company. The size
of the circles around some of the companies' markers represent the size
of the company's revenue.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Findery is a new application that allows anyone to leave notes on a Google Map. The notes can be about anything, from information about a favorite
location to a
reminder to pick up milk from the local grocery. The posted notes can be
shared with the world, with a group of friends, one to one, or only with
yourself.

Pinning a note to the map is very easy. You can click on the the "Leave a
Note" link at the top of the map or select the "Leave a Note Here"
button. Notes can include text, photos, videos or even a sound clip.
When you have submitted a note to the map your note gets a unique URL so
it is easy to share your pinned notes with friends or through social
media.

Google Maps Street View has proved very popular in a number of online promotional campaigns in the last few years. #FindtheEggs is a good example of how a promotional campaign can be made more interactive and fun with a little help from Street View.

The UK's largest supermarket chain Tesco has used Google Maps Street
View to create a virtual find the Easter egg competition. In #FindTheEggs players have to navigate around Street View and collect three of the thousands of eggs that have been hidden on the map. Find one and you win a free chocolate!

Vasile Cotovanu has been inspired by the new draggable polygons
option in the Google Maps API to create this template for a Google Maps
Geography Puzzle. The template allows anyone to create a game in which
players have to drag geographical areas onto their correct position on a
Google Map.

The code for the Vasile Geopuzzle
is available on GitHub and can be easily customised for any area in the
world. To create your own puzzle with the code all you really need is
the GeoJSON data for the polygons you wish to use.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

GeoData-Checkout is an open data platform for creating interactive time-line maps. It allows developers to easily create online maps that can visualise data through time.

You can see the platform in action on the Historic Chicago Timeline Map. This map uses the platform to allow users to view an animated time-line of building construction in Chicago. Users can define an area on the map by using a polygon tool and then view an interactive map that animates the construction of individual buildings in the defined area by date of construction.

The MLB Payroll Map is a beautiful mapped visualisation of salaries and payrolls across Major League Baseball teams and players.

MLB teams are displayed on the map with dynamic map markers which are sized to reflect the size of the team's payroll. Users of the map can therefore see at a glance which teams have the largest payrolls. If you select an individual team on the map the marker fans out to show individual players. Again the size of the markers reflects the size of the players' salaries.

FreshyMap is a great online map that can help skiers find out the current snow conditions at nearby ski resorts.

Individual ski resorts are displayed on the map using dynamic map markers. The size of the markers (and the numbers) reflect the amount of fresh snow forecast for the resort. Users can click on individual markers to reveal a more detailed snow report and webcam images where available.

Friday, March 22, 2013

There are quite a few Google Maps apps that allow users to view the affect of potential sea level rises. The HeyWhatsThat Map Layers map not only allows you to view sea level rises but also to view contour and land cover layers on a Google Map.

The contours layer allows you to view global altitude contours on the map. Users can even define the number of feet between the contour lines displayed on the map. The land cover layer also allows the user to view land cover information on the map at zoom levels of 10 or higher.

The sea level layer itself allows the user to define the number of feet of a potential rise in sea levels and view the likely affect across the globe.

Zones sans Pesticides is a French website that is encouraging organic gardeners and farmers to share the locations of their pesticide free gardens and land on a Google Map.

The website of Zones sans Pesticides features a prominent Google Map of pesticide free zones already added to the map. Supporters can also add photos of their gardens or farms, or photos of their pesticide free produce to the website. The submitted photos are displayed beneath the map.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Findery is a new application that allows anyone to leave notes on a Google Map.

The notes can be about anything, such as information about a favorite location, a location based memory, a fact about a destination or a reminder to pick up milk from the local grocery. The posted notes can be shared with the world, to a group of friends, one to one, or only with yourself.

Pinning a note to the map is very easy. You can click on the the "Leave a Note" link at the top of the map or select the "Leave a Note Here" button. Notes can include text, photos, videos or even a sound clip. When you have submitted a note to the map your note gets a unique URL so it is easy to share your pinned notes with friends or through social media.

In the last few years there has been a welcome growth in the number of small, independent microbreweries producing traditional or 'craft' beers. The BreweryMap can help consumers of craft beers find their local breweries.

BreweryMap is a Google Map of BreweryDB's database of over 10,000 beers and 3,000 breweries in the United States. Using the map it is possible to search for breweries by location or by name and even find breweries along the route of a road trip.

The information window for each brewery includes the brewery's address, contact details, opening hours and even a list of beers produced at the brewery.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The UK's largest supermarket chain Tesco has used Google Maps Street View to create a virtual find the Easter egg competition. In #FindTheEggs players have to navigate around Street View and collect three of the thousands of eggs that have been hidden on the map.

If you find three eggs you can win a 'chocolate prize''. The eggs are very easy to find, especially if you like the game on Facebook, which rewards you with an egg radar showing you where to find the hidden eggs. There are also some golden eggs hidden on the map which could win you a Samsung Galaxy Tab2.

When you find three eggs you can print out a voucher to claim your free chocolate in a Tesco store or, if you shop online with Tesco, you can receive the chocolate with your next shopping order.

Vasile Cotovanu has been inspired by the new draggable polygons option in the Google Maps API to create the template for a Google Maps Geography Puzzle. The template allows anyone to create a game in which players have to drag geographical areas onto their correct position on a Google Map.

The code for the Vasile Geopuzzle is available on GitHub and can be easily customised for any area in the world. To create your own puzzle with the code all you really need is the GeoJSON data for the polygons you wish to use.

Vasile has created a demo game using the code for Switzerland's Cantons. In the demo game players have to drag polygons of the Swiss cantons onto their correct location. A timer keeps track of how long it takes to compete the game and your current score is also displayed on the map.

The game makes effective use of Vasile's popular Masked Polygons library. The Masked Polygon library is used to define the boundary of the game. For example, in the Switzerland Cantons game Switzerland is highlighted on the map using the masked polygon library. Consequently players can clearly see the area of game-play on the map.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Spring has come early to Google Maps thanks to some new Street View imagery in Japan. The Google Street View Guide to Japan has a new cherry blossom collection highlighting some of the best Street View images of cherry trees in bloom.

The collection includes many examples of cherry blossoms in the gardens of temples and in public parks. Each highlighted Street View includes an overlay including information about the location and about the numbers and types of cherry trees that can be seen at the location.

Vici.org is a Google Map that lets you find the location of buildings and artefacts from the Roman Empire.

Using the map it is possible to search for Roman remains near a particular location. It is possible to view the data on Google Maps or on top of the Pelagios Roman map tiles (more of which below). It is also possible to view a slide-show of some of the highlights on the map by using the Presentation option.

Vici.org is inspired by Wikipedia. Anyone can add content to the map and all content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution / Share Alike license.

Omnes Viae: Itinerarium Romanum is a route planner that lets you navigate the Roman Empire using the roads and shipping lanes available to the ancient Romans.

Omnes Viae is based on an ancient Roman map known as the 'Tabula
Peutingeriana' and allows you to plan a route that contains all the main
roads and cities of the Roman Empire. Routes generated by Omnes Viae
list the towns and cites and also the river crossings on your trip in
the map sidebar and displays the actual route on a Google Map.

The demo is just a basic map which replaces the Google Map tiles with
the Roman Empire map tiles. If you want to search the map for ancient
world place names then you should check out the Pleiades
website. Pleiades is a great resource for anyone interested in the
history and geography of the ancient world. The site is a community
based and open-sourced gazette of ancient places.

If you search Pleiades for a Roman place name you can view the location
on a map. On the displayed map you need to select the 'Imperium' map
layer to view the Roman Empire map tiles.

Instahood is a Google Maps based application that lets you view the latest photographs posted to Instagram by location.

The app is a handy way to view the latest pictures posted around a location or at a specific event. For example, If you want to check out the latest pope pictures you just need to enter 'St Peter's, Rome' into Instahood and you can view all the latest photographs posted from St Peter's Square.

Astoria allows you to virtually walk down the road, using Google Street
View, and view geotagged content from Instagram, Yelp and Twitter
superimposed upon your view. Who needs Google Glass when we don't even need to leave our desktops to take a virtual walk with augmented reality?

Monday, March 18, 2013

Here's an interesting Google Map that I came across today from Greater Greater Washington. Following the 2010 US census it was found that there were significant population differences in the city's electoral wards.

Greater Greater Washington therefore created The DC Redistricting Game. The game presents DC's wards on a Google Map. The map sidebar shows which wards are within 5% of the average population, and which wards are too small and too large. Using the map you have to switch the census tracts around between the different wards until all the wards are within the 5% average.

Once you have completed the game you even get a unique URL to your solution so that you can share your map with others.

Last year Google Street View went beneath the oceans so this year Google decided to take Street View to the top of the World.

Inspired by their love of mountaineering, a few Googlers decided to capture Street View imagery for Google Maps from some of the world’s tallest peaks. In their quest to bring the highest peaks to Street View they visited Everest Base Camp, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elbrus and Mount Aconcagua.

You can view the results of the imagery captured by these intrepid Street View explorers in a new section in Google's Street View Gallery - The World's Highest Peaks.